Tuesday, 11 March 2014

2014 - KENYA

HOME OF CHAMPIONS - ITEN

Masai warriors at the new track opening

My first training session in the UK
after spending five weeks out in the sunshine of Kenya was definitely
a shock to the system. Snow, sleet and rain which quickly transformed
into hailstones was a far cry from the sunshine I had got used to out
in the heights of the Rift Valley. The hailstones knocked against my
skin like small thunderbolts of lighting and I really struggled to
get moving any quicker than snails pace! But maybe this is karma. I
have been spoilt with perfect weather conditions for the past month -
perhaps the weather gods are just wanting to make sure I don't get
things too easy and become too complacent.

Myself and Paula Radcliffe after the hill session

Track disruptions!

There definitely wasn't a lack of
motivation to get out the door and get running on this Kenyan
training camp. I had the company of Mo Farah, Paula Radcliffe and
Steve Cram alongside me (the latter being here on coaching purposes)
– so it really has been a once in a lifetime experience to hear
their insights on training. To have Paula Radcliffe handing out
drinks on a long run whilst Steve Cram cycles alongside – it really
is a unique experience!

The dusty, dirt track is amass with
Kenyan athletes in the early hours of the morning, completing large
training sessions. It really is an amazing experience to go along and
witness. Olympic Champions, World Champions and World Record Holders
all share the same dirt track and can be seen most days churning out
the miles along the dusty paths. Whilst out running, you can easily
count up to 200 athletes at a time – the depth of competition out
here, truly is fascinating and it's easy to see why the Kenyan
athletes are amongst the best in the world. There really is nowhere
else quite like Iten.

During my time on camp we
also had a visit from UK Anti Doping – who had flown out a
practitioner specifically to take a urine and blood test from Mo
Farah, myself and two other GB athletes. It really is an intense
system that the UK enforce in order to stop drug cheats ruining our
sport. It is just a little unfair and unfortunate that not all
countries enforce the same system – none of the Romanians, Turkish,
Chinese or Algerian athletes that are also currently out training
here, were called in for tests. The UK also implement a whereabouts
system of which all athletes (of an elite level) have to give their
whereabouts for a single hour every single day, along with their
overnight address. Failure to do so – results in a missed test.
This is why the drug testers knew that we were all out training in
Kenya. It really is a fascinating system and one that definitely
works but unfortunately not all countries feel the need to impose
such strict rules.

Kenya yet again was a
fantastic training camp but unfortunately I have come back fighting
off a cold. Some people like collecting stamps – I seem to collect
colds. It's unfortunate as I would of loved to have raced some
indoors races this season. For me – it's a little disheartening
after training intensely for the last month but my main focus has
always been and still remains to be the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
next year.

So it's back to the cold,
lonely grind of training in the UK. What doesn’t kill you, makes
you stronger... so they say! But in my case.. it lands me with yet another nice little illness!